Controversial as it may have been, erotic thriller ‘Cruising’ captured something true about leather bars

Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, we revisit 1980’s Cruising, the highly controversial crime drama set in New York City’s gay leather scene.

Last week, legendary director William Friedkin died at 87 years old. He left behind one of the richest filmographies in Hollywood history, helming all-time classics like To Live And Die In LA, The French Connection and The Exorcist.

Friedkin also left an indelible mark in the pantheon of queer cinema, directing not one, but two hugely influential (and controversial) films that were a landmark and turning point in how gay life was portrayed on screen: 1970’s The Boys in the Band, and the movie we will be discussing this week, 1980’s Cruising.

Much has been written, dissected, criticized and admired about Cruising and, in the over four decades since its release, its place in the discussion of queer representation in film keeps changing and evolving. This week we’re going to go a bit narrower and, in order to pay homage to one of the great directors, explore the cinematic tools Friedkin used to immerse the audience in the gay leather lifestyle.

The Set-Up

Cruising takes place in 1980s New York City, where a serial killer has been hunting down and murdering gay men. He frequents leather bars and popular cruising spots, where he picks up men, takes them back to a private spot, ties them up and brutally kills them. The head of the police asks Detective Steve Burns (Al Pacino) to go undercover into the gay leather community to investigate and track down the killer.

As Burns goes deeper into this “underworld” and learns how men move in and out of the shadows (and follows them there), he experiences firsthand the discrimination and prejudice that the community faces (often from cops like him) and starts noticing his own guard coming down and his persona changing. And that’s for better or for worse; depending on your read of the famously open-ended ending.

Cruising Into A Grey Area

Cruising faced great backlash from the gay community when it was released for the way the movie linked fetish with violence, and Burns discovering his own repressed desires with the implication that he may have been involved in the killings. Paired with the rising anti-gay sentiments that were about to be compounded amid the AIDS epidemic over the next decade, it’s easy to see how the movie’s morally grey themes were perceived as thorny at the time.

A whole other discussion can be made about whether these themes and ideas hold up better today. But what is clear revisiting the movie now is the distinct purpose with which Friedkin painted the “other world” that Burns goes into: how it is portrayed, both in the story and the framing itself, as something new; something threatening and yet deeply alluring. How he captures the simultaneous sense of danger and arousal that permeates those bars, those alleys, those anonymous encounters. Those things have remained timeless.

Related:

How ‘American Horror Story: NYC’ cribbed from 1980’s controversial erotic thriller ‘Cruising’

If the latest season of ‘American Horror Story’ looked familiar to you, there’s a good reason why.

Shadow World

Friedkin does a pretty stark differentiation between the “real life” and the “cruising” spaces, mainly using shadows. When Burns enters the leather bars, or wanders the park among nameless men, or we see the encounters that lead to the murders, everything and everyone is partially covered in darkness. We aren’t able to see the full picture. We know something (or someone) is hiding, and may be watching.

This purposeful concealing works both to illustrate how gay men had to live their lives half in darkness, but also the ever-present feeling that danger is always lurking nearby.

The Gay Gaze

Friedkin also understood the power of the gaze; the importance of watching and being watched in the world of cruising (in both the double entendre meanings of the title: looking for sex and patrolling the streets). Back in a time with no hookup apps at hand or the freedom to openly approach someone, it all started with a look. It still does—if you go to the right places.

Every time Burns is at a bar, especially towards the beginning where he’s taken the role of a passive observer, the screen fills up with close-ups of men looking directly at us. Eyeing us up and down. Looking for a hanky in our pockets. Desired, lusted over, cruised. The movie translates the equally transgressive and exciting language of the act, and puts it on display on screen.

Related:

Queer Fatale: 10 sexy, gay erotic thrillers to titillate and palpitate

You won’t be able to look away.

Sweaty, Free, & Happy

It is also very interesting that, despite the criticisms about how the movie connects the gay world with the murders, Friedkin makes sure to paint the bars, the parks, the side streets, and any other space where gay men are together as something communal and full of life. The police precincts, Burn’s apartment that he shares with his girlfriend Nancy (Karen Allen), and practically every other space in broad daylight is usually empty, colorless, and silent.

Queer spaces always have music playing, even the dingy alleys or secluded parks. Men are in close proximity, usually making out or licking some body part. They are sweaty, free, and happy.

When Burns tries poppers for the first time, and lets himself go on the dance floor, the entire composition of the shot completely changes. With a literal enlightenment, Burns is able to see and understand why men risk their lives every night being down in that basement.

Our Scene On Screen

And Friedkin understood that, too. He knew how sacred the dance floor in a crowded bar is. He learned the language that men had been using for decades to find each other, and was able to translate it into the visual language he mastered. He got the perfect balance of danger and thrill that comes with following an unknown man through the shadows. And maybe he weaponized that as well.

But despite the criticism—and on top of the accolades that the movie has gotten through the years (and will continue to do so) as one of the boldest portrayals of gay life in a mainstream film—it could never be said that Friedkin did not do his homework. Rest in peace.

Cruising is available for digital rental or purchase via Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube TV.

Related:

Relive the erotic 1980 thriller ‘Cruising’ with this fun new children’s playset!

Now your kids can relive the excitement and danger of the ’80s New York City leather bar scene right in your own home!